Big day today as Scotland, Wales and nearly all of England (outside London) go to the polls. Wishing all my Liberal Democrat colleagues across the three nations the very best!
Litvinenko house Emergency Prohibition Order
Litvinenko house: what the lawyers say
Went back this morning to get further clarification of what the lawyers for the directors of the company that owns the Litvinenko house are actually after – and their view on whether the funding will be forthcoming.
My take on what I have been told is that the lawyers offered to talk to Haringey in February. Nothing followed. They don’t know on what basis Haringey applied the Emergency Prohibition Notice. So they want the evidence – I guess because in the end if they are going to pay they want to know what they are paying for. They want to know that the extent of radiation or contamination so that they can make an assessment presumably of the costs.
So – Haringey really needs to respond to the lawyers with what they are asking for – but meanwhile – as stated before Haringey has the responsibility for this and needs to get their act together.
What do Gordon Brown and David Cameron have in common?
This just about sums up my views very well!
Litvinenko house: "imminent risk of serious harm"
So – finally today I got to speak to the Litvinenko lawyer following our conversation last week.
From conversations today I know that close neighbours remain worried – not surprisingly given that Haringey Council, whilst taking down the plastic sheeting, has now put up an ‘Emergency Prohibition Order’ (under the Housing Act of 2004, Section 43).
I quote from the Order: ‘The Council is further satisfied that the hazard presents an imminent risk of serious harm to the health or safety of any of the occupiers of those or other premises’.
Moreover, on the second page of the Order it affirms that the hazard is ‘radiation’; that there is contamination from Polonium 210 and that in order for the Council to revoke this order requires ‘remediation works to reduce the radiation levels of all the surfaces in all parts of the premises to not more than 10 Bequerels per square centimetre’.
Now, Haringey Council have been assuring people on their website that “Haringey Council enforcement officers want to reassure the public that living close to the property in Osier Crescent is not a health hazard”, but this is contradicted by the Emergency Prohibition Order – which says there is “an imminent risk of serious harm to the health or safety of any of the occupiers of those or other premises.”
So – I have emailed the Leader of Haringey, George Meehan to make it quite clear that in my view it is the Council’s responsibility to make sure the house is safe – and get it cleaned up.
And it is downright irresponsible to tell residents it is safe at the same time as putting up the notice saying it isn’t. Make up your mind Haringey!
Anyway – back to the Litvinenko lawyer’s update. And as I understand the situation as of this posting – the directors of the company in control of the Litvinenko house have written to Haringey to ask on what basis an Emergency Prohibition Order was applied. At the same time they have formally appealed against the imposition of the order – but they may not appeal depending on them satisfying themselves that there is a proper basis for that Order. And – I was told – Haringey have not responded.
This set of lawyers are very angry that Haringey implies that they are not cooperating as they say they have been in contact with Haringey prior to last week.
All rather messy and unsatisfactory! But it boils down to this: Haringey Council says on its website that everything is safe, but they Emergency Prohibition Order says not. The lawyers involved say Haringey hasn’t responded to everything and think the Council is wrongly implying that they are playing ball.
So my message to Haringey Council is simple – stop messing around, stop saying conflicting things and get it sorted.
Graffiti discourages residents from using path
A plague of unsightly graffiti along Penstock Path has prompted Liberal Democrat councillors to request a clean up by Haringey Council. Cllr Catherine Harris and Cllr Bob Hare are appalled by the lack of action to deal with the vandalism and damage of walls along the popular path used by cyclists and pedestrians.
Cllr Catherine Harris (Noel Park) comments:
“This is a popular and extremely useful footpath, which provides a short route between Hornsey, the new New River Village and Wood Green town centre. However, the dark tunnel with the years of graffiti all over the walls makes it a very unwelcoming path for pedestrians.”
Cllr Bob Hare (Lib Dem spokesperson on Green Issues) adds:
“It is years since Haringey Council last painted the walls. This must be done as soon as possible to brighten up the tunnel and to improve the poor perception of personal safety given by the present dark and vandalised walls.”
Council 'clean-up' leaves nature reserve in a mess
The inadequate clear up of rubbish dumped by fly-tippers at a local nature reserve has angered local Lib Dem councillor Bob Hare.
Queen’s Wood, situated on Queen’s Wood Road in Highgate, was subject to three separate fly-tipping incidents last week whereby building materials and household rubbish has been dumped. Liberal Democrats demanded that the site was cleaned up immediately and that broken CCTV is fixed so the perpetrators may be identified. Labour-run Haringey Council carried out a ‘clean-up’ of the area; however, rubbish was still strewn across a wide area.
Cllr Hare has now demanded that the Council clean up the residual mess and ensure that the CCTV is fixed to prevent further fly-tipping in the area.
Cllr Hare comments:
“This shows a total lack of concern for the nature reserve that is in the Council’s care, not to say utter contempt for the pleasure of the many local people who go for a walk at the weekend, and for visitors from outside the borough including people on the Capital Ring walk which goes through Queen’s Wood.
“The woods are always going to be vulnerable to dumping, but the best defence is rapid and thorough clean-up, and rigorous attempts to gain evidence for prosecutions.”
Inadequate Haringey social services plan halted by Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrat councillors have refused to rubber stamp an “inadequate” plan to improve the crisis ridden Adult Social Service in Haringey. Lib Dem members prevented Haringey Council’s Audit Committee from endorsing the Labour Executive’s plans, after concerns they did not adequately deal with the serious issues raised by the Commission for Social Care Inspection’s report.
Last week’s Audit Committee meeting was summoned to consider Haringey Council’s response to the annual audit and inspection letter and to then to agree the actions that the Labour Executive had planned to address the issues. But Haringey’s Adult Social Services recently received a damning report from the Government’s inspectors, who rated the service to the elderly and the disabled the worst in London, and said its prospects for improvement were “uncertain”.
Cllr Monica Whyte (Hornsey), Cllr Matt Davies (Fortis Green) and Lib Dem Social Services spokesperson Richard Wilson were shocked at being asked to rubber-stamp such an important report, without any proper discussion or the plan being presented to the committee. After the intervention of the Liberal Democrat trio the Audit Committee refused to endorse the Labour Executive’s plan and asked for a more detailed review of the Council’s response to the damning inspection at their next meeting.
Cllr Richard Wilson comments:
“I am very pleased that I managed to persuade my colleagues on the Audit Committee not to rubber stamp the Executive’s inadequate response to the recent damning inspection report on Social Services. Government inspectors rated Haringey’s services for elderly and disabled people the worst in London, reduced its rating from two stars to one, and said its prospects for improvement were ‘uncertain’. Therefore the Council’s action plan to turnaround the performance in social services needs real scrutiny.
“If the Government’s inspectors weren’t convinced the Council is capable of halting the decline in care services, then councillors should be sceptical too, and demand real evidence of improvement from the Labour Executive – and they have yet to provide it.”
Improving safety on public transport
Off 
to the launch this morning of a new bus safety initiative which will see eighteen Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) on duty in and around transport hubs – kicked off this morning at Turnpike Lane Bus Station.
It is an extension of the partnership between Transport for London (TfL) and the Met Police brokered by the Greater London Authority (GLA). The reason for it? Well, if you map crime – you would quickly find that the hot spots are transport corridors and transport hubs – particularly around the time schools come out and at night (especially Friday and Saturday nights I believe). So this scheme puts more people in uniform on site to deter and tackle crime.
Very welcome, especially as when I have been knocking on doors in Wood Green, the absolute most common issue raised with me is that of crime and fear of crime. We should all be able to go out and onto transport without fear. This move is a real step forward – hurrah!
Do you get too much packaging?
My colleague Jo Swinson got some good coverage on the issue of excess packaging last week.
I am fed up personally with the amount there is – wrap and double wrap. Even if you recycle it, there’s still a huge amount of waste involved – we need to reduce as well as recycle.
Lynne Featherstone 